Moving Moving Moving

so we have come to yet another tenancy at yet another flat. This move is Phil and my 6th move in 5 years! It is exhausting!


We have just got into the habit of not really unpacking. All our things are already in freestanding drawers or packed into boxes into shelves. It isn't the best way to live because I am very much a person who likes things to have their place...it may not always be in that particular place because i will leave it out when I am having messy days...but that place will always be there for it to return to. Thinking about it this is very much how life is for me..and it has always been like this ever since I left home in 2001 when I was 18. I moved from Italy to England and I have never really found my own place as such. I still, 8 years on, haven't settled. My place is back home with my parents. Incidentally they have moved back to South Africa since i left home but Home is Where the Heart is...and the saying holds true. I feel that until I have settled properly and have made a place for myself my heart will always be with Mom and Dad at home, no matter where they are in the world. Sure, being away from them is so so hard and sometimes i feel that precious time together is being lost as we are so so so far apart. I wish that they were just down the road so that i could pop round for tea or have sunday lunch together. I never realised how good I had it at home and how much my family means to me until I left. What I wouldn't give to have that back. I want to be back at high school, all I had to worry about was passing my exams and which friends I was going to spend the weekends with. Now the worries of everyday life have consumed me and I have lost who I am. My main comfort is that I have my home/my place to go back to, a Steph shaped place waiting for me to be put back into, even if it is for two weeks of the year.

Nurture

A lot of my friends and family are pregnant at the moment. My cousin Karyn is due in October and another cousin is due just before that. My friend Dawn is due in early December and one of my best friends Emma is due in February. I also know of four other people who have just had or are about to have their babies. I think it is wonderful for all of them and to be honest i am quite jealous because I want a family more than anything, but I know that the time and place isn't right for us at the moment. But never fear I tell myself...my time will come...but in the meantime I am raising my own little family of my own, a bit unconventional, but my little family of herbs is coming along very nicely. I have to admit that I have completely killed my marjoram but I wouldn't know what to cook that with anyway. But my favorite is coming along very nicely.

This is my chili plant that I have grown and nurtured from seed. A few weeks ago I noticed two little white flowers forming and I have been waiting and waiting for this to happen. I have been waiting for the plant to grow and strengthen enough to support a chili and finally one lone chili has poked it's little head out to say hello.

So I am watching my little chili daily to see how she does. I will be repotting the plant very very soon to give her some space to grow (like coy in a pond) and I will be patient to wait for the chilies to go red because apparently they go green first then turn red...and when I pick my first chili I am going to eat it straight off the plant...I am sure I am going to regret it but I will have the milk at the ready to save my burning mouth. It is going to be hot hot hot...and if it isn't then I guess my chili growing venture will have failed...so keep posted...i am sure in a month or so I will have a chilli update. I'm excited...watching my babies grow...and in the the meantime I will have lots of friends with babies to go and visit for cuddles.

In My Handbag

At work I am often left waiting for ladies searching for their purses or their glasses in the bottoms of their bags...and although this slows the queue behind me I sympathise with them because I am often in the same position as my bag in huge. I always remember my mom losing stuff in hers and the bag wasn't that big. Mom always called it her 'bottomless pit' of a bag. So to minimise the confision and time wasted looking for things I keep wondering whether I can eliminate an item out of the bag so i have less things to wade through...changing my big bag isn't really an option because I love it. So this is what I have in my bag. This is the exersise of elimination.

Ipod - a daily need, whether it is in walks or in the car when there isn't much on the radio.

Glasses - needed at work, and probably everywhere else, but I only have them in my bag when i go to work.

Keys - always needed, however, my fantastical bag has an elastic attachment that I can put my keys on to avoid loss.

Moo Business Cards and Mini Cards - They don't take up much space...and it is like having a mini portfolio in my bag.

Name Badge and Locker Key - although my name is spelt incorrectly and what is in my locker you ask? Lots and Lots of work shoes...a girl needs options for her uniform and to fit her mood.

Little Bag of Goodies - Enough said

Eye Drops. Hand Cream, and Hairspray - for dry sore eyes (a regular occurrence), Dry hands (a regular occurrence), and Hairspray, for wet weather (also...a regular occurrence).

Sunglasses - because they make me look cool...haha!!!

My purse - full of receipts, not much cash, and a lot of cards (credit, debit, buisness and loyalty). I often remove all cards from my purse when i'm skint...which is usually a week after Pay Day.

My diary - to record things that I may forget about...and to organise my life.

Make-Up Bag - I feel that I carry around a lot less make-up than a lot of women. All my make-up bag consists of is cover up (because unfortunately I don't have flawless skin), Pressed powder, eyeliner, and blusher...that isn't much right!?

Mobile Phone - well what else would i put in the designated phone compartment in my bag? and it is my life line - communication, telephone directory, calculator (essential as I don't know my times tables, and don't ask me to add two or numbers over 5 together...like 8+9), alarm clock, and camera.

Umbrella - even when the sun is shining!

Camera - although i regularly forget this and end up shooting with my phone camera...which isn't too bad.

I have come to the conclusion that I do need these things one way or another. I could play it by ear a bit more and not take my umbrella out with me on sunny mornings or leave my sunglasses at home when it is raining...but the weather is too unpredictable in this place. I would always find myself with either a headache from the blinding sun or soaking wet without my umbrella. So my exersize of elimination has failed as I am not eliminating anything out of my bag...but I feel happy in my conclusion that I do in fact need everything in my bag...right?

Little Voting Book

About a year ago I got in contact with the Italian Consulate to renew my ID card. I filled in all the leventy seventy forms and attached four passport photos to it and sent my expired ID card to the consulate in London. I also filled in a form to register myself in Aire, meaning that I live outside Italy. I think I did this years and years ago but just in case I sent the form off again anyway. I never did get my ID card renewed because of all the hassle of going into london to do it. Why it couldnt be done like a driving licence where you send it in the post and a new one arrives a few weeks later I have no idea. As far as I am aware you can apply for a british Passport by filling in forms and posting them off. But Italy will always be Italy!

Anyway...My Aire registration was successful because come May this year I was receiving loads and loads of voting paraphernalia. It just kept coming and coming and coming... Even advertising leaflets. I didn't understand the letters, the referendums, the policies...But i did like the look of some of the documents. Everything in Italy looks official. Some of the papers had sticky labels and stamps on them and were all different colours. So I kept them all and made this:

This is my little voting book made out of all the voting papers that were sent to me. It ha a lot of interesting pages because I tore the mail up so that the book is between A6 and A7 in size.

I bound the book without spine tapes so stitched the spine in a slightly different way. I like the way it turned out. Considering it was pure trial and error I think aesthetically it works. I stuck to the same pattern of stitching so the spine is uniformly bound.

My favorite page in the book is this one. It is the only full size page that hasn't been torn from a bigger bit of paper. I modeled the whole book around this postcard. I love all the stamps on it in the different coloured inks...they add something interesting to the layout. It is unplanned and freely placed by a machine or person who had no intention of making it look good.

The only time I have ever voted was about five years ago in Italy and I had no idea what I was voting for. I ticked the box with the most attractive logo next to it..exactly how I pick my wine, by their labels. On afterthought I realise that I could be voting for the Fascist party so i thought that this was a more fitting way to exercise my vote.

Food Glorious Food

I have been thinking about food...actually I am always thinking about food. I love it and will always enjoy a good meal. I love cooking, I love going out to eat and I even enjoy the odd cheeky take away. I do feel I am a rare breed in that I will eat anything and everything. I will always try anything once...food wise. (I am not going to try crack cocaine or jump out of a plane)...ok maybe I will jump out of a plane...slim slim chance. Anyway! ...i think in this day and age it is way too easy to be a picky eater! My mom made me eat all my vegetables and taught me to try food, if only once. The only thing she didn't insist we eat were sprouts...which, by the way, I now love. I am a veggie freak and love them. My favorite lunches are when I am home and I will have a piece of fish with grilled vegetables. Yum!! and I love avocado on toast or in a salad, my favorite breakfast is All Bran Flakes with fresh banana and cold skimmed milk. Yum! If I have more than two days without vegetables i feel all bloated and yuck!

So it does make me wonder why people can let themselves get the obesity. I was watching a tv programme about really obese women who go and have gastric bands fitted and gastric bypass surgery. All of them say that they have tried absolutely everything to lose weight and they just couldn't do it! Surely they didn't try a balanced three meal 2000 calories per day regime with regular exercise...even if it is a half an hour walk a day! I think it is absolute rubbish that they can't lose weight! But am I speaking from an educated background? Do these people just not know? Why aren't schools educating children from a young age about basic nutrition...about the food pyramid? Yes Chips are great! I love chips...chips are better than cheese...but not every meal!! Another thing I don't understand is why unhealthy food is much much cheaper than healthy food? A bag of crisps is cheaper than a portion of fruit. I am not saying I am perfect. Yes i pig out and have bad weeks...but I will have good weeks after that and it balances out. I was having a rant about picky eaters today with friends and how infuriating it is. so rant is over...i'm gonna go have some chips now...hehe...only kidding!

Goodbye to Wisdom

Today I had my last wisdom tooth extracted and out of all four this one was the worst. It just didn't seem to want to budge as though it was trying desperately to hang on for dear life. My dentist was muttering at it and practically hanging off the thing.

So is this the end of wisdom? Has a part of my adulthood been taken away...or worse...is this the first stage of old age...my grandfather is completely toothless now. Four teeth out, 28 to go. I am, after all, drinking my tea and beer out of a straw.

Is wisdom measured in teeth? My wisdom has been extracted. I didn't have these special teeth for very long. The bottom two were taken when I was 19, my first lower one left last year and now the last today. It is a sad day...but i have a souvenir. My dentist was examining the tooth so closely once it had come out...he seemed almost reluctant to give it to...like it was his precious...or was it a moment of victory? I brought my tooth home last year but lost it...so it could be anywhere. Hiding. So now i will see if there is wisdom linked to teeth. I have none to hang on to anymore...just my lonely little tooth in it's little transparent bag.

I wonder if i still need to brush it?

Post Exploration

I am starting to think about projects that I can do next year for my final year of my degree. I have to do two major projects for the whole year so they need to be good and they need to be researched comprehensively. My inspiration for an idea I have came from a photograph I took of an old postbox that someone had set into their garden wall.

From this photograph I produced my little Post Box etching which I absolutely adore. I love this because of it's colour, feel, shape, purpose and it's history which I am looking forward to exploring.

So I am going to be embarking on a mass research extravaganza into the post box, the postal system, stamps, mail....I am going to use the mail system as a way of creating prints...not sure how, I have a few ideas. For now I will be photographing post boxes, collecting bits that come through the post. I have found the Bath Postal Museum which I will pay a visit to for sure. I am going to be embarking on a post box voyage...a post spotting expedition. Watch this space. Many interesting things to come over the next few months.

Tea Bag Tower

...this makes me giggle every time so I thought I would share...

...it is a mans prerogative to make a cup of tea and leave the tea bag on the counter or in the sink...and ladies we know that tea leaves a stain. So after countless failed attempts to get the tea bag into the bin straight after being taken from the tea cup I invested in a little tea bag bowl. (This a special tea bag bowl because it comes all the way from South Africa and it has a feather painted on the bottom.)

So the bowl has worked. No more tea stains. HOWEVER... The tea bags still never make it into the bin...the tea bag tower has been born. Made up with little tea bag bricks on their tea bag tower base.

I wonder I wonder how tall the tea bag tower will get if I leave it...

I Went into the Sea the Other Day

Our first trip to the beach was most eventful...and I rate my trips to the beach on whether I made it into the sea or not. This time I did and it was amazing. Usually the Bournemouth sea is way to cold to get in to but this time it was so so hot on the sand that I had to do it. The last time I attempted it was last April/May time and that was ridiculously cold! (what was I thinking attempting it in Spring??) It was cold at first and yes it did take my breath away but only for a few seconds...and then I was in.

I did however lose my sunglasses when I was caught unawares by a sneaky wave. It hit me right in the face, i swallowed a few mouthfuls of water and it swept my sunglasses away into the salty abyss. The plan never involved putting my head under water...but Mother Nature had different ideas. Just shows how unpredictable she is...what a b**ch.